Chips (e.g., microchips or integrated circuits) generate heat when used. Central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) are two examples of chips that can generate a tremendous amount of heat as a result of performing numerous, extremely high-speed operations required for executing computer programs. That heat needs to be dissipated from the chip in order to allow the chip to operate efficiently. The computer industry is continually innovating cooling systems to address the unique and demanding cooling requirements of chips that produce large amounts of heat.
Heatsinks have been typically used to cool these chips. The heatsink is used to transfer heat away from the chip and towards cooling fins on the heatsink, which provides a large surface area for airflow to efficiently remove the heat from the heatsink through convection, conduction, and radiation (although to a lesser extent). Some heatsinks are used with vapor chambers to improve cooling by taking advantage of the high effective thermal conductivity of vapor chambers.
A vapor chamber is a sealed vessel containing fluid that vaporizes in the vicinity of the hot component. The vapor migrates to a cooler surface of the vapor chamber, where it condenses and returns to the vicinity of the hot component. This vaporization and condensation cycle improves heat transfer from the hot component to the heatsink. Thus, some vapor chamber devices combine the use of vapor chambers with the cooling fins of traditional heatsinks. Vapor chambers are typically used for their high thermal performance. For example, they can be used to dissipate heat from electronic components (e.g., computer chips capable of generating tremendous amounts of heat) by transferring heat away from the electronic component and towards cooling fins on a heatsink. There are many ways in which vapor chambers can be combined with the cooling fins of traditional heatsinks, which can affect the overall thermal performance. There is therefore a need for effective ways to supplement vapor chambers with additional structures (e.g., the cooling fins) that will improve the overall thermal performance.